DEVELOPMENT RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Abstract

A post-industrial society, a service economy, a knowledge-based economy, an information society, are concepts that represent an attempt to highlight the key changes that have marked the new economy. Relationship marketing is a new approach to marketing, a “new marketing paradigm” (Kotler, 1992; Gronroos, 1994; Gummesson, 1994), whose importance is increasing.

Relationship marketing should be understood as a journey rather than a destination. It is an approach that involves seeking to respond to the permanent changes dictated by the environment. A key virtue of modern organizations is agility, which means the ability to respond quickly, flexibly to new circumstances.

Different influences have been evident in the development of the theory of relationship marketing that have led to the emergence of several different academic perspectives. Grönroos and Strandvik state that these perspectives include the contribution of the Nordic School of Service Management, the network approach to industrial (B2B) marketing, the Anglo-Australian approach to integrated quality, consumer service and marketing, the exploration of strategic alliances and partnerships, and above all, the contribution of research related to the nature of relationship marketing. It should be noted here that while the significant contribution of North American authors to the development of the RM concept was, their impact was not as dominant as in the past. Relationship marketing has become a global research concept.